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Scientists probing the deaths of baby dolphins in the area affected by last year's BP oil spill have been ordered by the government not to speak about the project.
Wildlife biologists who have been contracted by the National Marine Fisheries Service to investigate a huge rise in dolphin mortality this year must keep their findings confidential.
About 90 dolphins died last year, but this year the toll has jumped to 200 already.
The 200 carcasses, nearly all bottlenose dolphins, have been found along the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Nearly half of them are either newly born or stillborn infants.
It is the first dolphin calving season in the northern Gulf since BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded last April.
Some experts are speculating that the oil ingested or inhaled by dolphins during the spill has taken a belated toll on the animals, possibly leading to a wave of dolphin miscarriages.
Aside from the criminal investigation, the carcasses also are potential evidence in a review of the damage to natural resources from the spill and the civil litigation case being pursued against BP.
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